Just a desk project

needed a new Computer Desk. Had some old Barn Wood in the shop. Weather has started to warm up, so I moved a bunch of tools back out to that un-heated Pole Barn I call a shop. Loaded up the hand tool box, most of the pipe clamps, a beltsander, a couple handsaws, and some Mountain dews. Seems I was forgeting something in that list. Glue, maybe? Nope, glue is in the tool box. Oh well.

First task was to get some boards into a top, of some sort. Five boards volenteered to be a top>

Got them into and back out of the clamps, since i needed them for another task. I had four blanks for legs, already cut up. I re-sized them a little bit, trying to get rid of some ugliness. Didn’t work.

They still ugly. Oh well, Maybe place them just right will help. I then chopped some mortises for the aprons to go into, and glued the base up.

Black clamp pulls things square. I use the tablesaw’s top to help align things up. Once things are square, and pinned together, i placed this mess on the floor.

Now, I can start fitting for the two drawers. Got the runners glued up along the side aprons. Got the center runner sized and fitted. A large, single dovetail holds the front in place. A wood bracket gets screwed at the back…...Screws???? I KNEW I forgot SOMETHING! Well, I’ll just finish sizing things up, and call it a day. Out of mountain Dew to boot. Hate when that happens. A look at where this thing is now:

Note: when using old Barn Wood, watch out for things NOT made of wood in the wood. I found this little prize BEFORE I sawed the board up.

About 1/4” diameter “Bodkin Point” thingy, maybe a drill end? Well, until the screws show up out at the shop, and some 1/4” plywood for the drawer bottoms, that’s all for now. Stay tuned, them screws just might show up yet….

3 comments so far

That old Pine sitting on top will be the drawer sides. Drawer fronts are just sitting there. Not sure WHAT wood this Barn Wood is. Should be fun finishing this stuff. Top will get a breadboard edge, after the top has cured for a few days. Knobs for the drawers are just a couple small round wooden things. There is to be a “hutch” on top of the top, as well. This will take a few weekends to do…

Yep, but it’s all those broken off cut nails buried in the wood that i keep hitting. The first thing I do when working with this stuff, is buy a CHEAP rip blade. Bigger the teeth, the better. When i slab some of the wood off, I can tell by the sparks where each nail was. On some of the slabs, I can then just drive what is left on through. I also use a “cape chisel” to dig ones close to the surface out. Always fun working with this stuff…..